By DAVID CLOUSTON

Salina Journal

There were more students in Millie Moye's classes when she started teaching in the Salina School District 35 years ago, and their attitudes toward her and toward learning were different.

"When I was teaching in the '70s, my average class size was 36," Moye said. Today, it's about 22 to 23, the eighth-grade science teacher said.

"But the difference is, you had time to let the kids build a relationship. And they wanted to please you, because they had that kind of relationship," Moye said.

Moye was one of 35 retiring faculty and staff members to be honored by the board of education and Salina's Chapter of the National Education Association at a reception Sunday afternoon at Lakewood Middle School.

For Moye and the rest of this year's group of teacher retirees, no change in their careers seemed to have as great an impact as mandated standardized testing.

The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002, required states to develop assessments in basic skills to be given to all students in certain grades, to qualify for federal funding for schools.

The state of education today is worse, some critics of the act charge. The teachers interviewed Sunday acknowledge that reaching students today is tough, given the rigors of meeting performance goals. And students, before they come to school, are pressured more from circumstances at home.

"When I first started teaching, I would have two or three students from divorced situations. It was the rare child who was from a split home. Now, it's rare that they're not," said Janice Long, a third grade teacher at Meadowlark Elementary School. Long has taught 14 years at Meadowlark and one year at Stewart Elementary.

Long said she believes in holding educators accountable, but with some balance. She said she thinks, as a whole, fewer students seem to value education and fewer go on to graduate high school.

The students who enter her classroom are used to being entertained through technology -- DVDs, the Internet and other means.

"It's harder to sit down and read a book than it is to -- it's not true for everyone. And we have great parental support. But (society) really has changed," Long said.

So many of her students are respectful and "are wonderful kids," said Ileen Baer, who will retire this year after 15 years as a Family and Consumer Science teacher at Central High School.

But there are some less respectful of education, who think they will be the exceptional person who becomes wealthy and famous despite their disdain for high school or college.

"They think they're going to be that person. Most of us aren't that," she said. "Most of us will work hard every day of our lives to get where we want to be," Baer said.

Baer works closely with some teen parents.

"Those kids are really trying hard to succeed," she said. "Almost all are graduating this year who are seniors, and going on to college. They're doing a good job."

Baer plans for post-retirement are to dote on her two granddaughters and attend the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in New Mexico.

Moye said too many students she sees are marched into the classroom and put to work preparing for the test. As a result, teachers have less time these days getting to know their students' backgrounds, or creating a relationship and giving the students' motivation.

"I do want to keep my hand in, working with kids," said Moye, who was accompanied to Sunday's reception by 11 family members. "I definitely will substitute (teach). I would also like to build relationships with parents, to encourage them to come to school, to see what their kids have done. It's a scary thought. I think sometimes we're losing this next generation of kids."

Rob Winter, Salina district superintendent, addressed the crowd of retirees and their families, saying they have much of which to be proud.

"Throughout your career, you have dedicated yourselves to children," he said. "To changing their world and molding young minds. To generating new ideas and knowledge. It's truly an honor to be a part of this celebration today."

For Rep. Deena Horst, R-Salina, Sunday's reception marked a milestone in her education career. She will retire this spring after 41 years in teaching, two of which were in Peabody. She's spent the rest of her career as an art teacher, most recently at South Middle School.

Horst, 64, is seeking her eighth two-year term as a representative after completing 14 years in office.

"I'm not sure I will ever not worry about what's going on in the classroom," she said. "This will make it less complicated, because I do have another responsibility, in that I represent the state at the National Conference of State Legislators, and I'm on their education committee and subcommittees."

She, too, she said, has dealt through the years with a more disruptive atmosphere in the classroom. The children who used to step outside the boundaries were the minority; not so today, she said.

"You can have expectations, you can try to teach manners and so on, but that doesn't mean it's going to carry over to anyone else's classroom. And frankly, that's something we need to figure out, is there a way for us to help parents?"

n Reporter David Clouston can be reached at 822-1403 or by e-mail at dclouston@salina.com.

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